Lowell shows great sensitivity in creating that collective mood, and expressing it through a large, diverse ensemble.

Any interesting comment or funny remark must have happened off-camera.

Scenes flirt with clich, yet the writing has spark (one very funny sequence cuts among radically different interpretations of the previous night's revelries), and Tim Naylor's photography is pretty.

compared to other low-budget indie dramas, Beside Still Waters is distinctive, and not just because of its choice to shoot on celluloid.